PurposeThis study aims to examine factors influencing potential commercial innovators' intention to innovate with open government data (OGD) via a risk perspective.Design/methodology/approachThe authors develop a theoretical model that explains how different forms of uncertainty (i.e. financial, technology, competitive, demand, and data) and their inter-relationships influence potential commercial innovators' intention to innovate with OGD. The model is tested using survey data collected from 144 potential commercial innovators from a developed Asian country.FindingsThe results suggest that all other forms of uncertainty, except competitive uncertainty, negatively influence potential commercial innovators' intention to innovate, mediated by their perceived risk of innovating with OGD. The results also show positive relationships between different forms of uncertainty, i.e. competitive and financial, demand and competitive, data and financial uncertainty.Originality/valueThis paper identifies major forms of innovation uncertainty, perceived risk, their inter-relationships, and impacts on the intention to innovate with OGD. It also finds support for a unique form of uncertainty for OGD innovation (i.e. data uncertainty).